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My husband found some eight foot folding tables at an auction for me to use in my craft room. The tables were great for what I wanted to do. I wasn’t worried about damaging the surface too much and they were the perfect size. However, they started to get a bit dirty with bits of stickers, paint, glue, glitter, and who knows what else stuck to the surface. I cleaned the surfaces well but I still had the problem of them being mismatched and I also didn’t want to build up that much gunk again on the surface, then it occurred to me…I could cover them in some contact paper!

I picked out some paper that complemented where I want to go with decorating my craft room. My craft room is actually just half of an unfinished room in my basement but over the next few months, I want to spruce it up to make it a lot more organized and more attractive. I find that an organized and nicely decorated space makes my creative thinking flow just a little bit better.

The hardest part of this project was cleaning the tables but after they were clean and thoroughly dry, applying the contact paper was a breeze! I rolled out the paper the length of the table leaving about an inch extra on either end. I found the easiest way to apply it was to remove a few inches of the backing on one end and affixing it by aligning it with the side of the table. Then, you can just pull from underneath on the contact paper backing and it will adhere itself as the backing rolls out from underneath. Once the paper is down, you can smooth it out and pop any bubbles you might have with a needle. I also used an Xacto knife with a large blade to trim the excess off the ends. The paper is really easy to trim but I didn’t worry about perfection. I want to be able to switch out the paper fairly frequently as it gets too dirty so spending too much time on each application is not really an option for me.

I did two of the tables so far in my room and I have two more to go. I am so pleased with the result and now my husband wants me to do the tables in his office so that the surface is a little more durable. And all this time I thought contact paper was “outdated”! How wrong I was! Now, I am trying to think of some creative uses for the chalkboard and stainless steel contact papers.

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4 comments so far:

rachael said:
(August 20th, 2010 at 4:17 pm)

I had been looking for a solution for a old table I inherited from my husband’s grandparents-thanks! My kids and I wanted a quick fix to help it become our new art/craft table, and this will do the trick. I had planned to sand and paint it somehow, but this will be so much easier, and I can change it out as I want. The needle tip for bubbles is great, I have stayed away from contact paper for that reason. I had no idea that contact paper comes in chalk board and stainless steel…the possibilities are endless!